Bucs weren’t seriously interested in trading up for Trent Richardson

Posted by Michael David Smith on April 30, 2012, 9:55 AM EDT

AP

Browns President Mike Holmgren is standing by the decision to give up three third-day draft picks to move up one spot in the first round of the NFL draft, saying his team had to be absolutely sure it would get Trent Richardson. But the Browns may have been bidding against only themselves when they were negotiating with the Vikings about swapping first-round picks.

The Browns’ biggest concern was that the Buccaneers, with the fifth overall pick, would leapfrog them and get the Vikings’ third pick, and take Richardson ahead of Cleveland. But Peter King writes at SI.com that while the Vikings talked to Tampa Bay about the pick, but the Bucs were never seriously interested in it.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the Browns were wrong to make the trade — it’s possible some team other than the Buccaneers would have moved up ahead of the Browns to take Richardson — and King argues that the Browns made the right move. But it does suggest that the Browns might have gotten their man even if they had held firm and decided to pick at No. 4.

It’s also another sign of what a good job the Bucs did of hiding their intentions before the draft. Everyone thought Tampa Bay wanted either Richardson or LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne, but it turned out that they didn’t move up for Richardson and traded down when they were on the clock with a chance to draft Claiborne. The Bucs ended up moving back and taking Alabama safety Mark Barron seventh overall, then using the Jaguars’ fourth-round pick, which they got for their trade from No. 5 to No. 7, as ammunition to move back into the first round to take Boise State running back Doug Martin 31st overall.

Most people thought the Bucs wanted either an upgrade at running back with Richardson or an upgrade in the secondary with Claiborne, and that the best-case scenario for Tampa Bay was getting one or the other. As it turned out, they were able to upgrade both positions with Martin and Barron. Whether the Browns made the right move in trading up is debatable, but it’s hard to argue that the Buccaneers used smart draft-day trading to improve their roster in the first round.

“Very hard to believe considering:
A. They traded back once they missed out on him and B. They traded back into the 1st round to take a RB.

They were very interested in getting Trent.”

At one point they were definitely interested in getting Trent. That is, until Dominik picked up the phone and heard what Holmgren wanted to move up to 3. I’m sure at that point Dominik had quite the chuckle before hanging up the phone. He wasn’t moving up…period. Tampa had too many holes to fill and needed all of their draft picks. Nice poker playing Spielman.

I have to wonder why the Browns organization continues to get a pass from the media after becoming somewhat of a circus in the offseason. The Browns can trade away picks for nothing, but if Jacksonville or Miami had done the same thing, we wouldn’t hear the end of it. Then there was relative silence on whiffing on the RG3 trade, other than a cursory article on Holmgren grumbling to save face. Now they’re twisting Colt McCoy in the wind after clumsily trying and failing to trade him over the weekend. Where is the Florio editorial-on-high about how ridiculous all of this is?

Bucs didn’t “want” the guy if they were unwilling to offer a 3rd rounder. Minny obviously would have taken their offer over the Browns if that was the case. At most, since Bucs didn’t have a 4th at the time, they could have offered a 5th, 6th, & 7th. That doesn’t necessarily scream that the Bucs really wanted Trent.

At one point they were definitely interested in getting Trent. That is, until Dominik picked up the phone and heard what Holmgren wanted to move up to 3. I’m sure at that point Dominik had quite the chuckle before hanging up the phone. He wasn’t moving up…period. Tampa had too many holes to fill and needed all of their draft picks. Nice poker playing Spielman.

AlanSaysYo says:

I have to wonder why the Browns organization continues to get a pass from the media after becoming somewhat of a circus in the offseason. The Browns can trade away picks for nothing, but if Jacksonville or Miami had done the same thing, we wouldn’t hear the end of it.

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The Browns get a pass because at this point it’s just become way too sad. They’re like the troubled relative that nobody wants to talk about.

“but it’s hard to argue that the Buccaneers used smart draft-day trading to improve their roster in the first round.” If that is exactly what M. Smith wants to say about the Bucs draft he is way off base and needs to rethink his analysis.

The Browns got fleeced by a GM/Management staff that has Kool-Aid in their veins instead blood. I said that that night that they panicked and ended up going against a phantom team for no reason. I was ticked off then and now it seems justifiably so. This is the Browns being the Browns. This, along with drafting Weeden at 22 when no one else was even thinking about him and we likely could have gotten him at #37 or later.

I love what the Buccaneers did. They filled both holes, and frankly, Safety was more important than CB. They got the best Safety in the Draft, as well, the 2nd highest rated RB…. Nice job Tampa. (I don’t get to say that very often)

I think the last 2 years worth of drafts have been stellar, and this year’s Free Agency pick ups were exactly the things the Buccaneers needed.

I am excited to see this season, and what they’ll do. Freeman should be a lot better this year, he’ll have targets with Jackson and Williams, protection that he didn’t have last year, and a RB that’ll block for him and not fumble the ball.

If they weren’t interested then why trade back into the 1st round to pick a RB? The vikes got low round picks, Browns had 13. Pretty sure they could spare a couple to get the best player in this draft class. Vikes got nothing more than practice squad players from those picks. Browns got NFL’S rushing leader 2012-2017. They also don’t need a media “pass”, cause the media spear score touchdowns or sell seats. My net is TB and MINN will be drafting at the top again next year.

If he would have fell to them at 5, then they would have taken him. But if you look at it. They have praticed Rhonde at safty, Cody Grimm is coming of a broken leg, Shawn Jones is just horrible, so they needed a safety. Who were the really gonna put back there Larry Asante or the kid Black! I think he pkayed it perfect. Now will it work….. Nobody knows!

Holmgren already failed once as GM. Why is anyone surprised that he is acting like a buffoon in his current GM role? People think he’s some kind of football czar that can do no wrong because he had some success as a coach. Coach and GM are two very different jobs. Eventually he’ll either give up on Cleveland himself or get fired, and return to coaching as if nothing happened.

Liar liar pants on fire… The bucs missed on both their guys so now they have to save face… This is like when when a hot girl dumps a guy and hes like oh yeah, she was crazy, i didnt really like her anyway… Hahahaha!!!!

Vikings GM Rick Spielman worked hard in the days before the draft to create a market for that trade. Getting the Browns to yield a 4th, 6th and 7th round pick to move up one spot is the work of a good GM manufacturing value.

Bull. Peter King is a notorious Browns hater. Seems like there is also no lack of Holmgren haters on this board. You’re all assuming that Tampa was the only potential trading partner for the #3. Browns GM Heckert knows Spielman very well and was assured by the latter that there were more than a couple of offers to move up. At the end of the day, all Heckert really gave away was a 7th rounder since he had an extra 4th rounder from last year’s Atlanta trade and an extra 5th from the Brady Quinn trade of two years ago. Earth to you geniuses: this is what such extra picks are used for. Duh! If Richardson runs for about 1,800 yards and scores 15 or so touchdowns this year, it’ll be interesting to see how many of you geniuses will admit that this was a good move. Oh, I forgot, the Browns in your view will always remain the same woebegotten lot of fools they were under Policy, Botch Davis, Crennel, and Phil “Opie” Savage. As the old saying goes, “the illusion of permanence is the folly of every age.” So, rave on, dudes. Let’s see how it plays out on the field this year and next.

They traded back into the first round by giving a early 2nd and got a complete back thats second to only T Rich. Another first round talent and the best safty in the draft, or Just the best rb in the draft? The Giants were gonna take Martin but they stole him. Filled two needs instead of one.

So Washington is right to trade away 3 first round picks for RG3 but Cleveland is wrong to give up a 4th, 5th and 7th to move up one spot to get the guy many refer to as clearly the 3rd best player available in this draft and some even refer to him as the best player available. Tell me again who gave up too much?!

Tampa made the right decision in not trading up, just too many holes to fill. Barron and Martin are the right selection.
Brown fans should be happy at least the browns were aggressive in getting their man and w/ 13 picks they had more than enough picks
left.

Im tired of reading all the negativity about the browns giving up 3 late rnd draft picks to move up 1 spot.. Wether the viking dupped the browns or not the bottem line is the browns wanted TRich & they were aggresive & got him.. B4 the draft most of the fans wanted him the browns got him so people should be happy but they cant do that they have to take shots @ the browns FO.. Just like there 3rd rnd pick DT hughes, nobody knows he could turn out to be a good pick lets wait & see b4 we rip the browns.. Playing in the AFC north you need big tough phisical guys the browns got 2 guys that add depth to the DT position.. Lets wait & see b4 we rip the browns for the moves they made thats all im saying i gues

Holmgren may not have the title of GM but it’s naive to think he doesn’t approve all trades and picks. If he doesn’t then what does he do? Are we to believe they pay him a ton of money to NOT coach and NOT make personnel decisions? So what does he do there aside from drink all the creamer from the office mini fridges?

Why do browns fans think that the bucks picking a RB later is some proof that they wanted to trade up for Richardson? The only thing it proves is that the bucs did want a RB but they were smart enough to know that it was stupid to trade up to 3 when they could get a good RB later.

& if they wernt bidding against themselves & sombody would of jumped us & took TRich infront of us u would be bitching about that & blaming holmgren for not getting TRich.. Bottem line is the browns wanted & got there guy!!!

People really need to analyze Schiano’s style of defense before they try to comment on who the Bucs really wanted. There’s a handbook out there written by Pagano that broke down the defense in Miami when Schiano was DC and Butch Davis was the coach. Nearly everything revolves around the strong safety. He IS the QB of the defense.

Now is it possible that the Bucs would have preferred Richardson? Sure. Schiano also values those “bell cow” RBs. But the key point is that, if he did value him over Barron, it would have only been by a very minor amount. Not enough to trade away half our picks to get him. Certainly not with a back like Martin who, while he isn’t on Richardson’s level, is certainly a very good prospect nonetheless and is also very similar to Ray Rice in his play style, who Schiano of course coached in college. Let’s also remember that trading down rather than up not only let us get Martin, but Lavonte David as well.

Will it all work out? Who knows. Even the best looking drafts sometimes don’t live up to their potential in the long run. But on paper the Bucs really had a dream draft, and anyone who thinks they got fleeced by the Browns or Cowboys isn’t paying attention.

7th overall seems high for a SS, especially Barron. While very good, he didn’t ever strike me as an elite NFL prospect.
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Looking back, would you draft Palamalu at #7 overall if you had the chance?

How about John Lynch?

Ed Reed? Rod Woodson? Steve Atwater? Ronnie Lott?

No one can say anyone was a reach at this point. If you scouted a player, really thought he’d be a good fit for you, and you pick him at 7, and maybe he would have lasted until 11 or 12 until another team got him, then I don’t believe it’s a reach. The got the highest rated Safety in this years draft. He may be a flop, he may not. Let’s hold off on making those kind of assumptions until 2 or three years.

rickyhawk88, the Browns gave Holmgren the same job he failed at years ago, only this time with a different job title. How is that so difficult to comprehend? And why isn’t it believable that he will fail once again?

It’s funny how the Browns got fleeced my critics for giving up a 4th (had 2 ended up with 2), 5th,and 7th rounder for a gurantee at your man. by moving up 1 spot. Most players from 4th on out are role players if they make the team.

Washington gives up the farm to move up 4 spots and its a great trade. Pretty funny condsidering RG III may not be any better than Weedon wo the Browns selected at 22. This isn’t track and field, it’s football. I sure the Monday Morning QB’S will point to its a qb not a running back. The same critcics of the Browns who also like the RGIII trade probably loved Jamarcus Russell too.

The Bucs did a great job in this draft. The fans are getting excited and buying tickets again. We are reloaded with new talent and a new no nonsense coach. This will be a very interesting season. GO BUCS!

Are you kidding me, does it really matter at this point who was or wasnt really interested in trading up. Like Tampa would ever come out and admit they didnt get their guy. Cleveland assured themselves the pick, end of point! Richardson is a beast and I look forward as a Browns fan to watching him run year after year in the AFC North! Go Browns!

Bottem line the browns got there guy & gave up 3 late rnd picks to do it.. TRich is a brown & will add a toughness that the O was lacking.. So rip holmgren all you want but anybody that says were not a better team now then when he took over has to be drunk cuz nobody sober could be that stupid!

Go look up the type of defense Schiano was apart of at Miami under Butch Davis.

Its a defense that relies heavily on the safety.

I love how some clowns on here assume they know what went on in the Bucs draft room. Just because some idiots had Claiborne going to the Bucs in their mock draft doesn’t mean that’s what the Bucs actually wanted. Show me a mock draft with more than 7 or 8 of the 1st round picks chosen correctly.

The Bucs got their man in Barron. The Cowboys can have idiot Claiborne.